raise state pension age to 68 sooner call

THE state pension age should increase to 68 by 2039 and the triple lock guarantee should be scrapped during the next Parliament, an independent review recommends.

Former CBI director general John Cridland, who was appointed as the Government’s independent reviewer of state pension age last year, said the state pension age should increase from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039.

Pension experts said if the recommendations are taken up, people in their 40s face their state pension age being pushed back a year. They warned those in their 30s and younger may eventually face the possibility of drawing their pension at 70.

The state pension age is already due to go up in stages, with a rise to 67 by 2028. The next increase to 68 is not due to happen until between 2044 and 2046.

But the review said the rise to 68 should happen seven years earlier than planned, providing greater “intergenerational fairness”, and help- ing the fiscal sustainability of the state pension.

The report, which focuses on state pension age arrangements beyond 2028, will help inform the Government’s review of the state pension age, due in May.

In 2013, the coalition government said that someone should spend up to a third of their adult life above state pension age on average.

Today, there are 305 pensioners for every thousand people of working age.